Angelfire (13 page)

A fleeting memory of my dad giving me the flyball he caught at my first Detroit Tigers baseball game played in my head like a movie. He smiled so much back then, and now I couldn't even remember the last time he had smiled or looked at me with something other than disdain.

I shrugged at Kate. “Well, I'll graduate in the spring and be off to college, so screw him.”

“But he's your father,” she insisted. “Do you really want to hate him for the rest of your life?”

“I think he's made up my mind for me, don't you agree?”

She frowned and sighed. “He used to be so cool when we were little. Do you remember when he took us to Crystal Mountain for the weekend and snowboarded with us? That was one of the best weekends of my life.”

I smiled at the memory, and it made my eyes sting with tears. My dad had rented a town house at that ski resort for him, my mom, Kate, and me the Christmas before Kate and I had started high school. That was the last year we'd felt like a family. Kate had always been like a sister to me, and my parents treated her like an adopted daughter. Now even she felt my dad's frigidness.

“You can't let all these new bad memories wash away the old good ones,” she said, tilting her head at me. “They're too good to be canceled out. You have to concentrate hard on the great things about your childhood, all the great memories with your dad. He's not evil, he's just changed. He can change back.”

I smiled at her, wiping at a tear in the corner of my eye. “Thanks, Kate.”

She grinned back and tenderly combed my hair back with her fingers. “You know I love you.”

“I wish someone else did too.” I hated being so angsty and I would never have admitted that I had “daddy issues” to anyone's face, but it felt wrong to hide what was going on in my life from Kate. That included my Preliator duties.
Keeping that from her killed me—it hurt almost as much as my relationship with my dad did.

“He loves you,” she said. “If he didn't love you, then he would never have been a good dad ever. He was amazing once. He just sucks at it right now. Maybe things will get better.”

“I hope you're right.”

She sat up and scoffed at me. “Of course I'm right. I'm kind of amazing, FYI.”

I laughed and tossed a pillow at her. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, really.” Her smile got a whole lot slyer. “So how about Will? He looked hot tonight.”

My cheeks flushed scarlet. “He might have.”

Her expression lit up. “I knew it! You like him, don't you?”

My mouth scrunched indecisively and I ran a hand through my hair. “See, I don't know. He's a little different, but not in a really bad way. He just doesn't act like most guys, you know?”

Kate laughed. “Of course, tall, dark, and stoic would be your type. At least it's better than Landon following you around like a lovesick puppy lately. I'm sorry for that, by the way.”

I forced a smile. “Thanks. I feel really bad about it.”

She giggled and looked at me like I was crazy. “Why?”

I shrugged. “I don't know. It's like, he really likes me and I just don't feel the same way. He's
Landon
, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Her gaze flickered to the ceiling for
a moment. “It's not like he's an ass. He's a little immature, but he's still a good guy, and he's so cute. And
hello
? Soccer star! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to say yes and see where it goes.”

My face scrunched again. “I'm not going out with a guy to see if I
end up
liking him. That seems wrong. I don't want to lead him on.”

“Yeah, when you put it like that…” She trailed off.

I eyed her with suspicion. “Why are you his champion all of a sudden? Do
you
like him?”

“Oh God, no. Did he ask you out?”

“Sort of. I didn't get a chance to answer him.”

She perked up. “What if he asks you again?”

My heart sank. “I don't know. I'll have to tell him no. It's not like I can do anything else.”

“True.”

“It's just, with Will, I've only known him for a few days, but I feel like I've known him forever. I feel safe around him. It's nice.”

She grinned. “Oh, honey, we all want a white knight. It's programmed into us girls.”

My smile was genuine this time. “He
is
kind of like a white knight.”

“Yeah, a stone-cold fox, too. Do you think he wants to go out with you?”

“I don't know. We're just sort of hanging out right now,
so no ‘going' of any kind. I don't think he likes me that way.”

Kate rolled her eyes. “Okay,
hanging out
to me means something entirely different from what I know you're used to. Please don't tell me you've hooked up with him already.”

“No, no!” I said quickly. “It's not like that.”

“Have you kissed him at least?”

“No.”

“Do you want to?”

“I don't know.” I blushed again, thinking about it.

“Ellie, you know within five seconds of meeting a boy if you want to kiss him or not. Do you, or don't you?”

Did I? It didn't repulse me, but I had no idea how Will even felt about me. We'd had something of a moment only minutes before, but as soon as he opened up to me, he shut me right back out. He could be really charming and then get so moody. He was my Guardian. Saving my ass was probably just like a job to him. He had protected me for hundreds of years, and what I would have given just to remember
any
of that…I was beginning to doubt that the entirety of my memory would ever come back to me. It helped to think about Will, but it also drove me crazy.
He
drove me crazy. I just wanted to understand him and I wanted to know his secrets. What
was
Will? What was
I
? My reincarnation, his immortality, our superhuman abilities, the reapers…And the Enshi—what could that be? Could Will be one of the angels he had told me about?

“Ell?” Kate cocked an eyebrow at me.

I sighed. “I'm about to fall asleep.”

Kate smiled weakly. “Okay.”

We both climbed into my bed and found sleep quickly.

THE BROKEN WINDOWS IN MY LIVING ROOM LEFT gaping holes out onto the patio, and they were covered with a rather unsightly tarp and tape until the window company could deliver and install the replacement glass. I'd be relieved when I didn't have to look at it again.

At school—the only time over the next three weeks of my grounding when I was allowed out of the house—Kate tried not to bring up the window incident, and Landon still seemed clueless about what exactly had happened to him. I hoped and prayed he would never remember that I was the one who had thrown him to the ground, even if it was to save his life. If he did remember, he kept his mouth shut, which was probably for the best. I couldn't explain anything to him. I had hurt him, and I couldn't even apologize for it. It made me sick to my stomach.

Being grounded, however, didn't stop me from sneaking out the back door of my house at night so that Will and I could patrol for reapers. We either trained or hunted every night, and I was getting better. I learned to strike for the head or the heart to bring the reapers down quickly and avoid getting injured as much as possible. Will worked with me patiently and tirelessly, and my memory was returning little by little. It was a constant comfort to know he was always there somewhere, completely in tune with me. I knew he had the strength to protect me, even if I didn't know I had the strength to protect myself.

The dark new world I suddenly found myself falling into was becoming the norm. Every night or two there was another reaper in my path. I was getting better, more fluid, more precise in fighting them. Techniques that had once been second nature to me in past lives were returning. It wasn't quite like riding a bike, but I was getting there.

I was grateful to be able to give Will a break from his Guardian duties while I was in school. Reapers didn't normally come out during the day, so Will was able to spend the time at Nathaniel's house, where he showered, ate, and did Will things. If I were attacked, as unlikely as that would be while I was in class, he'd know instantly and come to my side. He needed some time to himself, and I needed to have a normal day. Getting out of the world of reapers for just a few hours helped me stay sane. Perhaps he needed that to stay sane also.

However, the deeper I got into that world, the further away my old world of friends, family, and school drifted. The police had a suspect in custody for the murder of Mr. Meyer. Even though I knew the man was innocent of that crime, he was wanted for questioning for two other violent murders in the Detroit area, with evidence stacked heavily against him. I tried to believe that some good would come from Mr. Meyer's brutal death. It didn't, however, make me feel any better, since I knew that every one of the reapers' victims was in Hell, including Mr. Meyer.

When I got my lit paper back, I couldn't believe I'd done so poorly. I couldn't figure out how to balance my focus between school and my duties as the Preliator. My teacher, Mr. Levine, asked to see me after school so we could discuss the paper. I dreaded the meeting, but it was better than failing the class altogether. If I was really lucky, he'd let me redo it. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky very often.

After the final bell rang that day, I stopped by Mr. Levine's classroom to talk to him about my paper. As I'd suspected, he wouldn't allow me to rewrite it, but he went over some of it with me, and I left with a better sense of what I was supposed to be learning. I wasn't going to be able to get any extra credit either, but Mr. Levine was very willing to help me get a passing grade.

I was pretty sure my friends were more impatient about my ungrounding than I was. During lunch period on the
first Friday of my freedom, I found myself daydreaming again, digging deep inside my head, desperate to remember more. But every time I tried, all I could see was Ragnuk's horrible face, gnashing and biting. When that happened, I forced the memory away and pictured Will's gentle face, and I focused on him as hard as I could. Ragnuk frightened me and I wasn't ashamed to admit it. He was the size of a pickup truck and he wanted to eat me. Fear was, at the very least, reasonable.

“Ellie Marie…”
came a singsong voice beside me.

“Huh,” I grumbled, and prodded my lunch. It was turkey-and-gravy day, which was my favorite school lunch, but I had too much on my mind for me to enjoy it.

“What's with you this week?” Kate asked, her voice low.

Landon sat across from us and was deep into a conversation with Chris and Evan about their favorite video game's being optioned for a major movie. None of them heard us.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I've just been really distracted.”

“Is it your dad?” Her tone was serious.

“For once, no, not just him. It's him, school crap, thinking about college, dumb boys…There's just a lot of stuff going through my head right now.”

She frowned. “You seem so tired all the time.”

“I am. I don't know. I'm just going through a funk, I guess.”

“Well, cheer up! It's Movie Night and you haven't come
with us in like a million years.”

I poked at my lunch. “I don't think I feel like going to see a movie.”

“Uh, too bad,” Kate said. “You don't have a choice. I need to hang out with you, so you're going.”

I forced a smile. “I know, I'm so sorry.”

“Bring Will.”

I laughed for real this time. “Yeah, right.”

“Why not?”

“He's not really a movie person.” I tried to imagine six-hundred-year-old Will sitting in a crowded movie theater digging through a tub of buttery popcorn. Then I pictured him wearing oversize 3D glasses, and it was very difficult not to laugh out loud.

Kate made an unintelligible noise. “Who doesn't like going to the movies? That's a load of bull.”

“He's a pretty serious guy,” I admitted. “Very focused on what he's supposed to be doing. He doesn't put having fun very high on his priority list.”

“He's
never
taken you on a date?” She seemed appalled.

“He's not my boyfriend, Kate.”

“You hang out with him
all
the time. How are you two not dating?”

I took a bite and averted my gaze; I knew how bad a liar I was. “He's my tutor. That's all.”

“Don't lie to me. If you're going out with him, just admit it. I won't judge you for it. He seems nice and he's hot. I don't
know why you'd be embarrassed to admit he's your boyfriend. Not to mention he's already graduated. College guys are way better than high school boys. They
know
things. They know how to
do
things.”

I didn't want to know what she meant by that. “He's just my tutor. He's been helping me with econ. It's really embarrassing to have to admit it, but that's all he is, I swear.” It would have felt really, really strange calling Will my boyfriend, because it was very untrue; but thinking about the idea made me realize that I did kind of like him. He probably wouldn't be my parents' first choice, to say the least, but I couldn't help it. My mom wouldn't like it if I dated someone I said was in college. My dad…Well, he'd never like me going out with
anyone
—so, whatever. His opinion didn't count. I didn't remember knowing Will forever, but I could feel it. And it was kind of romantic thinking of him as my protector. I liked that. He was like a security blanket…only less fluffy. I wondered, for a moment, if he was cuddly. Probably not.

Kate sat back with a crafty smile on her face. “You're a dirty liar.”

“Am not.”

“Nobody hangs out with their tutor,” she challenged. “Tutors suck. Even hot ones.”

“He's a cool guy,” I insisted. “We're kind of friends now.”

“I thought you said he wasn't that nice.”

“He can be nice when he wants to, but he's also moody.”

“Sounds like a typical boy. Are you bringing him tonight?”

“I really doubt it.”

She frowned. “That'd sure piss Landon off, wouldn't it? I feel kind of bad for the guy.”

“He'll have to get over it.” I sipped on the straw sticking out of my Mountain Dew.

Kate folded her arms over her chest and sighed. “You're being naïvely optimistic.”

Landon looked up. “Mmm? What about me?”

“We're talking crap about your ugly roots,” Kate sneered, poking the top of his head. “You might want to get those touched up. David Beckham would weep at the sight of you.”

He scowled and flipped her off before going back to his conversation. She laughed.

 

After the final bell, I stayed an hour after school to go over our next lit assignment with Mr. Levine. When our meeting ended, I went to my locker, retrieved what I needed, and headed to the student parking lot. My friends had all left, and the lot wasn't as full as usual. As I walked to my car, I caught a glimpse of Josie Newport standing by her sparkly red Range Rover. Boldly, I changed my path and strolled up to her. She was texting away on her phone.

“Hey, Josie,” I said.

She looked up and gave me a genuine smile. “Oh, hey, Ellie. What's up?”

“Just got out of a session with Levine,” I said. “I've been
falling behind, so he's been helping me out after class. What are you still doing here?”

She waved her phone dismissively. “Eh, got out of track early for a doctor's appointment. I'm just killing a few minutes before I have to leave. It beats sitting in a waiting room for forty-five minutes. At least I can enjoy the sun out here and get rid of the raccoon tan my sunglasses made on my face.”

“Very true,” I laughed. “Hey, listen, about my party—”

“Don't worry about it,” she said, slipping her phone into her purse. “Shit happens.”

I blushed scarlet. “It was really embarrassing.”

“I know some people tried to make a big deal out of it.” She glowered. “But seriously, I've made an ass out of myself many times. It happens to everyone when they get drunk—well, not quite flying through the window, but you get what I mean. I got sick once and ruined the interior of my ex's car. Everyone messes up sometimes. You just kind of have to laugh it off and be thankful you weren't hurt.”

I smiled, feeling a little better. “Thanks, Josie.”

“No problem,” she said with a sympathetic grin. “I mean it. Sorry about your window.”

“I'm sorry about your ex's car.”

We smiled at each other for a moment. It was good to know that we were still cool.

She took her cell back out and glanced at it. “I should get going.”

“See you later,” I said.

She smiled. “Definitely.” She got into her car and left the parking lot.

I turned to walk back to my car and suddenly the world began to slip away. I rocked back on my heels, suddenly fearful that the haziness of my vision might mean that I was going blind for some reason, but as soon as that thought had crossed my mind, the world came back into focus. Only it wasn't a world I immediately recognized.

I was in a much darker world, an ancient, golden world lit by torchlight, and a woman's face—a reaper's—appeared inches away from mine, her hand clamped around my chin, her nails digging into my cheeks and jaw. She had me shoved up against a wall that felt cold and hard at my back. The sheer pleated dress she wore was cool against my arms and legs. Her skin was dark brown and her eyes were inhumanly large, the pupils melting into black irises so wide that only slivers of white curled around their sides. Her hair was long and dark and separated into thin braids, I supposed in order to allow her to blend in.

“You shouldn't have come here,” the reaper hissed in a language I somehow recognized as ancient Egyptian and knew to be her native tongue. “Those who love God are slaves, and you are a stranger here.”

I could barely speak through her grip. “The business of man is of no matter to me. My only concern lies with their souls—free and captive alike.”

“You're a fool. Not even the angelic venture here.”

“We both know that is a lie.”

Her snarl became a sneer. “Do you mean your Guardian? Ah, yes. I tore her throat out myself. Now even the archangels have forgotten this land.”

I set my jaw and ground my teeth in churning rage. “If they'd forgotten it, they wouldn't have sent me here to kill the reaper posing as the pharaoh and stop you all from claiming more human souls.”

She cracked the back of my skull into the wall. Pain shot down my back, and blackness crept around the edges of my eyes. “They sent you here to die, killer. Just like your Guardian.”

Talons like a harpy's grew from her fingertips, but I didn't wait for her to cut me. My power surged and shoved into the reaper in a flash of white light, but she strained against it. Her face twisted with fury, and her own power exploded as her ash-colored wings burst from her back and she shoved me deeper into the wall, shattering the painting of the pharaoh's gods. I slammed my palm into her chest and sent her crashing to the floor. Unable to catch her balance on her feet, she took to the air, filling up the palace throne room with her massive wings, which smashed through the room's stone columns as if they were made of reeds. A section of the ceiling came crashing down around us, and I sprang to avoid the falling debris. The reaper flew backward toward the throne, where she landed, perching on the gilded chair, her wings spread wide. The torchlight gleaming off the golden walls
gave the reaper an unearthly glow.

I called forth my swords and swept them upward, instantly lighting them with angelfire. I held them tight as the reaper leaped off the pharaoh's throne and took flight again, her dress billowing around her, wings flapping once, talons slashing. She descended on me, but I made my aim true and swung. My fiery blades sliced the reaper's head clean off, and I ducked as her flaming body exploded above me and was gone.